After my previous post, I thought more deeply about how I wanted to express my subjective opinions of artists and albums. I think what I’m going to do is work on picking a couple artists at a time to discuss. This will prevent me from being locked into a single artist for too long and will make it more fun for me to go back and reflect on my own opinions. I have also decided that instead of an artist’s full discography, I will be focusing on albums and leaving out EPs and Singles. I will probably still mention them in whatever post is about that time period for the band though. As I do this, I will go through each album to quickly discuss each song, and will rate them compared to the other songs on the album. Later on we’ll do the album as a whole unit in comparison to the other albums by the same artist. I’m also going to add a spotlight on my favorite lyric from each track. This will continue for many artists and I encourage you to comment below some artists for me to check out and write about.
As an example, this post will focus on Manchester Orchestra’s first album “I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child” released in 2006, even though an EP titled “Let My Pride Be What’s Left Behind” was released 2 years prior. On Pride, there are 2 songs that also make it to Virgin, with an additional song appearing on the 2009 album “Mean Everything to Nothing”.
I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child (2006)
Track 1: Wolves at Night
Favorite Lyric: “Cause a disaster’s a disaster no matter what Christian language you drag it through”
This track opens the album with some intense guitar sounds and drums. It sets the tone with a heaviness that Manchester Orchestra will become known for providing, especially at their live shows. It’s a song about being lonely and abandoned. The album title is found in the lyrics of the song. “I’m like a virgin losing a child. So lonely. So Lonely.” The wolves at night are the only thing left for him.
Track 2: Now That You’re Home
Favorite Lyric: “I’m biased and by this I’ll judge you on weakness wrapped up in my own innocence and I think that’s fine”
The second track has very heavy religious tones. The idea of judging from a place of innocence. You get the sense of a struggle with religion and what it means to believe in something that doesn’t quite make sense in your head. “Now that you’re home won’t you rescue me, I’ve been trying so hard to be good.” Pleading and begging that effort is there and that he deserves it. Religious tones appear throughout quite a bit of the MO discography.
Track 3: The Neighborhood Is Bleeding
Favorite Lyric: “Can you figure out a cure for me that can finally set me free”
This track sounds like it’s from the perspective of someone who just wants everything to end. There are ideations and some intentional meaning behind the idea of dying. It seems like a desperate call for the end.
Track 4: I Can Feel Your Pain
Favorite Lyric: “And I drank another simile and compared your Jesus to a thief. He took my bones and he turned them into bread”
This track slows the album down. It sounds like it was intended to be part of Andy Hull’s side project, Right Away, Great Captain! It is a very intimate, acoustic song about loss. I can’t help but feel sadness whenever this track plays.
Track 5: Where Have You Been?
Favorite Lyric: “They should deliver all my blessings in small brown paper handbags near the porch”
Another heavily religious song. That favorite lyric of mine for this track is a suggestion that blessings are just sh** and don’t work out for all parties involved. A blessing for one person could be something that breaks another’s heart.
Track 6: I Can Barely Breathe
Favorite Lyric: Tied “Because if seeing is believing, then believe that we have lost our eyes” and “When I fly solo, I fly so high” (I love a good play on words)
This track starts soft then shifts into the heavier sound by the end. It sends a message of change. “If you knew I was dying, would it change you? If you knew I was dying, would it change anything?” Once these questions are asked, it is time to break free and accept being alone.
Track 7: Sleeper 1972
Favorite Lyric: “And I still feel you everywhere”
This track brings the album back down to a slower and softer side. This is arguably the most depressing song on the album. The dad dies, the mother waits for her turn, the son shuts himself off from the world, the sister is devastated…. Sidebar. I promise that even though the song is depressing, it is really beautiful. And by now it probably seems like I just enjoy sadness. And maybe in a way I do. But this band has been a savior for me, and maybe this is why. It is ok to have emotions, to write them out in a way that helps you process your life, and can connect with others on such a powerful level. Music is truly something. And that’s why this blog exists in the first place.
Track 8: Golden Ticket
Favorite Lyric: “Well am I really that old, ignorant, or too slow to realize I have lost my golden ticket back home”
This song’s message is all about taking things too far. It has a theme of some substance abuse and how that contributes to a failing relationship. It talks about how the narrator of the song is going to get their act together and finally change for the better, but realizes it far too late when the damage was already done.
Track 9: Alice and Interiors
Favorite Lyric: “I’ll always be my best flaw”
Not to spoil my list, but this is my least favorite song on the album. It also happens to have my most favorite lyric. This track continues the trend of having religious undertones throughout. To this day I hold the belief that this song is a conversation between the man and God. There is a heavy internal struggle to make sense of the world. There is disbelief, doubt, and insecurity in not truly knowing whether God is real, is listening, or cares.
Track 10: Don’t Let Them See You Cry
Favorite Lyric: “So breathe while you’re alive”
Another acoustic song on the album. It is the shortest track at just 1 minute and 41 seconds. This is the one that I won’t really spoil for you. I’ll just encourage you to listen to the album and hear the beauty for yourself.
Track 11: Colly Strings
Favorite Lyric: “Besides, we can’t believe without fear”
Again, this track is going to have to speak for itself. Spoiler when you look literally just below that this is my favorite song from the album. I believe that MO truly saved the best for last on this one.
My Ranking
- Colly Strings
- Wolves At Night
- I Can Barely Breathe
- Sleeper 1972
- Don’t Let Them See You Cry
- Now That You’re Home
- I Can Feel Your Pain
- The Neighborhood Is Bleeding
- Where Have You Been?
- Golden Ticket
- Alice and Interiors
Last Words
This album was not my introduction to Manchester Orchestra. That will probably become more apparent as I get into rating the other MO albums, and when I then rank the album list altogether. Overall, this album is a good starting point to introduce the band to people. It has bits of heavy and soft. Andy Hull (lead songwriter and singer) likes to really explore his relationship with religion, and with those close to him.
To give you a sense of what critics thought. AbsolutePunk gave it 90%. IGN gave it 8.9/10. Pitchfork Media gave it 5.1/10 (fuck them). Rocklouder gave it 5/5 stars. And Sputnikmusic gave it 4/5 stars.
It truly is a fantastic work of art, and please…go check it out.
For all my readers, I love you and I’ll see you next time…
Marc’s Music Blog 
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